MA Architecture Applicant
Selected Works | 2020 - 2024
1 2 3 4 5
departmento urbanismo de valencia (urban planning department of valencia) (woodhouse) (lichenwood) (Canterbury architecture office and Archives)
urban planning department of valencia
A legislative project
Type
Tutor
Location
Use
Academic - YEAR 03, 2023
Alex Cotterill [Groupwork]
39.477436, -0.380123, Valencia, Spain
Urban Planning / Public Realm
ABSTRACT
Through key observations of Valencia’s urban fabric, this project challenges how urban planning is dealt with and how the planning process operates, and most importantly how we can open up the system for a more engaging, democratic and transparent procedure for the city and the community to be more involved in decisionmaking.
With encouraged participation through public consultations, social debates and architectural workshops, the projects aims to create a space of connectivity, awareness and activism; a social hub for change and education for the betterment of Valencia’s urban fabric and unique architectural landscape.
More than a third of all waste generated in the EU comes from construction and demolition
- With the Town Hall south of the site, I wanted the first point of entry to be publicoriented and the staff entrance north of the site; with main circulation and vertical access circling around the heart of the space (the central chamber)
Upon looking at the European Land Registry Association at which Spain is member, they have differentiated architectural Applications URBAN and RURAL PROJECTS, then further into three different categories:
1. The ERECTION of a building
2. The ALTERATION of a building
3. The DEMOLITION of a building
These ultimately informed the very basic programmatic structure and organisation of my building by following a seemingly pramatic legal procedure
Fundamentally, these two key spaces centres in establishing a space that encourages the coming together of people and the collective forming or ideologies and beliefs in the built environment.
Semi-exploded Axonometric Drawings of Key Spaces 1 Floor plans 2 Elevations 3
project 05B
Type
Tutor
Location Use
Academic - YEAR 03, 2022
Alex Cotterill [Groupwork]
51.274523, 1.061576, Canterbury
Residential / Live-Work Space
To develop a master plan for a community of people who work from home, tackling inherent issues of site conditions and context, whilst plugging into existing infrastructure and providing a new model for urban and local community living.
This project tackles how a group of academics and/or scientists can live together harmoniously through the establishment of a live-work function with their homes. A note-worthy design features incudes an interlocking helix staircase that binds two households together while still maintaining a good level of privacy and engagement.The project also takes into consideration the current site’s pedestrian use and how the masterplan can maintain it’s inviting atmosphere to be able to still engage with their work and the public.
The forefront of the scheme is connectivity and communality in different scales and zones of the project.
CIRCULATION / CONNECTIVITY
CIRCULATION AND PRIMARY MOVEMENT
Interlocking Scissor Staircase with opposite house
Overview/Masterplan of the project 1
Early hand-drawn sketches that informed my design strategies | 2 Floor Plans 3
2 The site is a location I often walk through to campus, and I noticed that many people cut through the site as shown above; wanted to include the current public use of the site into my masterplan which encouraged the overall layout of the project
- And to highly encourage community participation and engagement, not only with the public, but also with current residents and their neighbours
project 05A
Type
Tutor
Location
Use
Academic - YEAR 03, 2022
Alex Cotterill [Groupwork]
51.274523, 1.061576, Canterbury
Small-scale Interactive Temporary Workspace
To consider a small-scale workspace of an individual; the very specific social, environmental and physical conditions that they require to best perform their craft, and to rethinking the ways that living together could interface with the city and the ways that this might change society more generally.
This project follows the journey of a lichenologist who’s dedicated his career to the study of lichens (an organism with a symbiotic fungus and algae relationship). Lichens are best known for their ability to be bio-indicators of pollution levels in the air that we breathe.
By differentiating a heirarchy of work privacy, the lichenologist can work independently on the inside with all the relevant tools and equipment, while allowing the public to engage with the ever-changing facade that stores and archives tiles and substrates of all the different species of lichens that one has encountered.
Early Hand-drawn sketches of rotating substrate tile component that will accommodate a lichenologist’s research | 1 Exploded Axonometric of structural design | 2
1:5 in A0 | madera de liquen
COMPONENTS AND STRUCTURE
A. Rotating Wall Component (for easy access and study of lichens when inside)
B. Interchangaeable Substrate/Surface Tiles (to encourage lichen growth)
C. Flashing
D. Timber Panels (External Cladding)
E. Insulation
F. Internal Cladding - Timber
G. Horizontal Timber Frame (Wall)
H. Rotating Wall Timber
H. Skylight
I. Screwpiles (Temporary Foundation Solution)
PROGRAMMES AND OBJECTS
1. Rolling / Sliding Ladder
2. Work Chair
3. Microscope
4. Weighing Scale / Photography Stand
5. Work Table
6. Lichenology Study Books
7. Laptop
8. Study Lamp
9. Mini Photography Station (Wall-installed, sliding camera holder for Macro Photography)
10. Hand-held Lens (x8 or x10 Magnification)
11. Lichen Identification Guide Poster
12. Substrate Tile Archive Rack
13. Lichen Tile Samples (on the wall)
project 04
(Canterbury architecture office and archives)
Type
Tutor
Location
Use
Academic - YEAR 02, 2022
Jon Schmulevitch [muf architecture]
51.283153, 1.078304, Canterbury Public Space / Offices / Exhibition
“Destroying the building fabric means denying the accumulated life that it embodies.”
The people who were living in these past structures were not the only ones affected - the idea of a previous life, of a different time, a whole space of alternatives to the current perception of truth is also demolished. Retaining this social and political space of memory is a reason to challenge the demolition of everyday housing in Canterbury.
It’s simply not a matter of keeping a material record of the passing of time: the old masonry structures protect a personal, political, social as well as a physical space.
How do we remember them?
This project explores how the architecture of everyday housing should be commemorated and how they can be archived, displayed and celebrated; how these spaces evoke memories and attachments to people. But most importantly, this project challenges our attitudes towards demolition; to insitigate an important conversation of ‘should we really be knocking builldings down?’ Whether it is a significant architectural landmark, or simply people’s homes in Canterbury.
supporting and professional projects
mark richards trust travel bursary
2022 - 2023
The objective of the Mark Richard Trust, a UK registered charity founded in 2000 (No. 1090618), is ‘The advancement of the education of young persons studying architeczure at the Canterbury School of Architecture, through the funding and awarding of travelling study scholarships’.
Students eligible for the annual awardare those studying at Canterbury School of Architecture, in the second year of the BA Hons Architecture degree. The award is well advertised within the college.
Applicants are asked to submit a description of the proposed travel project, with costings and a short personal statement. The deadline for recipt of submissions is arranged by the college and the final selection is made by the Trustees following interviews held at the college. The award is made in time for travel during the summer break.
research theses and academic writing
‘As architects and spatial designers, we spend most of our time looking up. Looking up to our visions, looking up to the creations that are yet to become reality. We often visualise our work in three dimension; seeing details that many fail to acknowledge. In a world is rich in culture, ways of living, architectural marvels, I have always been drawn to the beconing call of New York City’s charm as city of wonders, detail and architecture. With one foot in the past and the other firmly in the future, the city has something to offer for everyone.’
‘The city of New York is renowned for the approach in urban planning since its creation. The grid-system of it’s urban make-up has been a conversation of triumph and controversy. The layout is both endearing and inspiring, and yet so unbelievably baffling. Walking through the city’s streets and its sharp ninety degree corners.’
This thesis, as part of my Stage 3 architecture degree, explores the long and turbulent journey of a South London housing estate that has faced the threat of the demolition ball since 2012; exploring some of the reasons why there was so much controversy, debate and activism that has gone to protecting the consequential project from those who live in the estate, along with supporting evidence and articles that has been published throughout the years.
The fight for save the estate is still on-going, but I hope with this paper, brings to light to the short-comings of those in power through their neglect and arrogance, that those living in Cressingham Gardens Estate are heard.
robin hood gardens
the rise, the fall and the remembering of its tangible and intangible memories
This paper discusses the repercussions, especially the human consequences of the demolition on one of the most consequential attempts of social housing. Robin Hood Gardens became a home for many, but the majority of their voices weren’t heard when it comes to the decision of its demise.
supporting and professional projects
Recreational / Non-Academic
Hand-Drawing
A3 (297mm x 420mm)
The drawing is split in half to accentuate what was, and what is. The pure linework symbolises purity and portrays the ghost of the cathedral’s bare bones in its details and , while the left half’s high contrast in shadows and the intricacies of the it’s gothic stone work and tracery through which breathes the drawing new life and depth. With Notre Dame’s recent reopening puts into question the old and new.
COMMUNICATIONS MODULE / YEAR 02
physical model research
The act of placing thin columns of timber below a suspended piece of fabric creates an interesting condition that allows gravity and it’s randomness to flow and create a truly organic form. As part of our second year material studies in communications, a ‘keyword’ was assigned at which we were to create a model using the software grasshopper.
The experiment above was in support of the catenary term exploration in its raw form. Imagine gravity working the opposite direction; up than down. The forces acting upon the design is more along the lines Inflation rather than Tensionbut the same principle still applies where it’s hanging(or floating) supported on by specific points which then produces an inverted catenary (similar to an arch).
*Notre Dame Cathedral during its restoration
The Maltings Theatre - Berwick, England
On such a strategic site, the new Maltings defines a new public realm; the theatres, the cinemas, the elevated view of the Tweed, and a descending internal route to Bridge Street. Forming the centrepiece to a revitalised public realm, the forms of the New Maltings recall Berwick’s gables, houses and warehouses. The new stage and auditorium volumes are enveloped on the north and west sides by a wrap-around entrance canopy and foyer, giving access to the theatres and cinemas and with a south facing external terrace towards the Tweed.
The Maltings project is my longest project to date, assisting in propelling the project to Stage 3 through drawings and visuals. Renders that were presented for a number of public consultations on-site were very well received with positive feedback. My role also consisted of drawing a number of general arrangement drawings, such as internal elevations and the testing of both the look and feel of the scheme’s interior and exterior through colour and materiality; costing through experimentation, and working with external consultants for the production of Verified Views (for the approval of Historic England)
An Ivy League School - United States (Confidential)
This project began as a 250-350 bed residential mix-use development for a prestigious university that is in need of further expansion to accomodation it’s growing capacity, not only for prospective students but for graduates. Recently, the project has gone through a ‘site pivot’ at which the project needed to be moved to further increase capcity. This ulitmately required further testing, research and design work with additional programmes such as the integration of an existing grounds and building services, legal and design hurdles, all of which area invalueble learning curves.
This project is my most recent and current project, and my role for this project is to assist in the production of ideas and testing designs through modelling (physical and digital), with appropriate contextual responses that are both functional, effiencient and considerate. Testing required residiential unit numbers by the client to the most efficient massing/layout without exceeding appropriate number of stories. Being based in the United States, reading and understading the US Code and Zoning Laws is a vital learning curve that into account bedroom unit orientations, spatial regulations.
Wolfson Court - St John’s College, Cambridge (Appointed - Competition Stage)
The College considers that a comprehensive and coherent redevelopment of the site is highly likely to require the demolition of the existing student accommodation at Wolfson Court with a view to building high quality student and academic staff accommodation in keeping with the area and targeting a minimum of 350 bedrooms in total.
My role for this project was to working under a group of architects and produce striking visuals and renders of both interal conditions and external approach to help sell the project. Prior to further development of the scheme, was tasked to calculate and test a number of design iterations for heating effiencies; impacts of south-facing units with the number of windows and opening, as well as building orientation which ultimately help inform the final design. Additionally, made a comparison of the UGF of the existing Wolfson building, to the proposed. I also created a detailed video walkthrough of the whole scheme on two approaches which significantly helped with understanding and feel of the entire scheme.
Christ’s College Library - Christ’s College, Cambridge
This inspiring new social and study hub for Christ’s College springs from its extraordinary setting in the historic heart of the College. Our interventions connect and combine the places where the College eats, socialises, and studies into a coherent and uplifting experience. The library provides a rich variety of study environments across four floors, linked to improved and expanded Upper Hall and the social Bath Court.
Graphic visuals and renders were an important ascpect of this project, that I contributed in producing. From the production of existing conditions of adjacent buildings and context for design testing to the look and feel of the scheme, both internally and externally. My contribution ranged from the use of Enscape and SketchUp, to hand-sketching typologies of study nooks and study room arrangements and a few material finishes.
